Birthday Gala Fundraiser & More!

Thanks to Joyce & Tammy (Board Member and Events Director extraordinaire), the Birthday Gala Fundraiser is coming together.  We’ve changed the venue to Village Green Park, corner of Elm & Washington.  We want to be able to serve Three Creeks Brewing’s special “Golden Stitches” Ale and wine as well.  We could not offer alcohol at the original location, so to the park we go.  And – the park will have way more room, nice grass, great setting.  Promises to be a great evening.

Sisters Folk Festival is arranging music for us.  If you’ve never heard their musicians – students and alumni of the Americana Project – you’re in for a treat.  The Folk Festival in September is outstanding and we’re very lucky to be able to work so closely with a great sister event.

Best of all might be the artwork we have for auction.  We’ve had great response from our former “poster artists” with donations from Kathy Deggendorfer, Jean Wells, John Simpkins, Paul Alan Bennett and Dan Rickards.  Here’s a few pics of some of the pieces for auction.

OK – here’s a fun thing!  We have a new bike shop in Sisters - Blazin Saddles –  and they’ve helped us out with the purchase price on this cool “Patchwork Cruiser” so we can raffle it off!  Its so much fun to ride.  Comfy seat and the tires are BROWN to match the patchwork paint job.  Can’t you just see yourself cruisin’ on down to your local fabric store on this baby?  Raffle tix are for sale here .  We’ll draw the winner on Quilt Show day at 4 pm and you don’t even have to be here.  We’ll ship the bike if the winner is from out of town.  Proceeds from this raffle will help us with the expenses of our FREE show!

Today is our last day to accept entries for the show, and we’re within about 30 quilts of filling the show to the brim.  We’ll keep on taking not-for-sale entries through this week.  We’ll do the final confirmations after that.  Photos of the “for sale” entries are now on the website.  If you’d like your sale entry photo posted, you’ll find the instructions for sending it to us on the Quilt Entry page.

I previewed our 35th Anniversary documentary this afternoon with Jean and it may sound corny, but we laughed and we cried!  Its great and we can’t wait to share it with you.   The corgis are getting restless – need to get them out for a romp.  They’re going to be in the Rodeo Parade – ye haw!  All cowboy’d up and pullin’ their wagon.

On Eagle Watch

For the last couple of weeks we’ve been watching a live feed of a pair of  nesting golden eagles.  Their nest is very close to our (home) office and we often see one of them flying around while watching the other sitting on two eggs in the nest.  The eggs should hatch in the next five days or so – its VERY cool and even cooler when they hatch.  Give a watch!  http://eagle.mmmeee.net/?page_id=2  We have people from all over the country watching these guys – they nested here 8 years ago with tragic results – the baby died when it fell from the nest just as it was learning to fly.  We’re hoping for better results this time around!

In Quilt Show news – the Around the Block Fiber Arts Stroll Poster is at the printers!  I mentioned before that it includes little snippets of all the artists work.  Here’s a small picture of it.  We’ll get it up on the arts stroll website early next week.  Quilt Entry Confirmations will go out right after May 1 for quilts accepted through April 30 and again after June 1 for quilts accepted after April 30.  We’re not full for sale entries yet – but we’re getting close!

The Wish Upon a Card fabric postcards are coming in and there are some beautiful ones!  We said they need to be here by April 15 if you want them considered for the silent auction but we’re actually going to jury them the first week of May – SO THERE”S STILL TIME!  I’ll take some pictures of the ones we’ve received and post them next week.  We’ll select 30 or 40 cards and with the Quilters Affair Instructor cards, there should be about 75 or 80 total framed cards for the silent auction.  Can’t thank Myrna Dow and High Desert Gallery enough for donating ALL of the labor and materials to frame all of those cards.  Please stop by their gallery when you’re in Sisters (or Redmond or Bend – they’ve got 3 locations) and thank them when you’re in town. 

Time to start signing up our volunteers!  Last year’s Volunteer of the Year, Sharon (along with her husband John) posted this on our Facebook page.  They are the MOST amazing volunteers ever.  We just love our volunteers ;^).  Check out our website page for volunteering and get in touch if you’d like to be part of the fun. The jobs say ’2009′ – we’ll update that soon, but you’ll get a good idea of the jobs available.    Here’s Sharon’s posting:

I have been volunteering for the SOQS for 8 years. My neighbor invited me to come and help the first year I moved to Sisters. Each year, I have tried new tasks and have met so many wonderful people. Last year, my husband and I were honored as the Volunteers of the Year. I always look forward to starting my work in …the spring. Ann Richardson is the best person you will ever work for! She knows how to find the right job for the right person and always remembers how to make it fun! There are so many different facets to the show that there really is a job that everyone would enjoy. Each year, Ann adds more events so there is always something new to try. I am so proud to play a small part in this amazing show. I hope you’ll come and join us by volunteering this year.

enough!  gotta go feed the corgis.

Posters and T-shirts are here!

Just last week we got in the posters (they’re fabulous!) and t-shirts with this year’s poster image.  I’ve already got mine and its been worn and washed!  I know I’ll be wearing this one out.  The poster image, in case you haven’t seen it, is made up of Jean Well’s quilts from the early days through her new, contemporary designs.  Jean is our Featured Quilter this year for the 35th Anniversary Show, her work will be featured in High Desert Gallery and then, like two days after the show, she’s being inducted into the Quilting Hall of Fame.  Big year for us and our founder.  Oh – there WILL be a long sleeve t coming later (my personal favorite).  you can check out the Stitchin’ Post site for a description or to buy any of our official show merchandise. A portion (a BIG portion) of the proceeds from sale of show merchandise goes to support the show, so buy early, buy often!

What else this past week?  Registration forms are flying back in here.  Good to re-connect each year with our regular exhibitors and it’s always fun to see some new ‘faces’ pop up.   Those limited sale entries aren’t even close to full yet, so keep ‘em coming and don’t hesitate to request forms if you’d like to enter.

Tomorrow the documentary film crew is coming to my (home) office to do my on-camera interview.  They’ve been busy filming all around town.  Jean and I got a preview of the script and I have to tell you in reading the closing section, I got chills (from the script!).  I’ll have to tidy up my office a bit, but not too much.  If any of it appears on camera, I wouldn’t want to leave a false impression about how neat (or not!) my office really is.

One last thing – our Quilt Block Contest packets are extremely popular this year.  They’re only $8.00 and anyone who enters has a chance to win enough blocks for a whole top.  Here’s a link to the place on our site with pics of this year’s fabric choices and complete instructions.

Its going to be sunny and in the 50′s this week in Sisters.  I’m getting the tire fixed on my mountain bike today and will see if the corgi’s can keep up!

Help us Celebrate 35 Years!

35th Anniversary Documentary Film Project Launch  

As promised, we’re launching our “Tell Us Your Stories” campaign for our 35th Anniversary documentary film.  We’d like to invite you to participate.  If you have any photos, film, video or memorabilia from a show that you attended that truly expresses the spirit of the show – we’d like to know about it.  If you have a story that you’d like to suggest for inclusion in the documentary – we’d LOVE to know about it.  This could be an experience that happened here that made an impact on you, could be why you came to the show, people you met, your personal connection with the show.  We’re looking for a few really moving stories that highlight the connections and community associated with Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.  You can email your stories to Stories@SistersOutdoorQuiltShow.org.  Kara Jensen or an associate of hers will contact anyone with a story, film, photos or memorabilia that we’d like to use.  And we thank EVERYONE for participating – we hope to find ways to use everyone’s stories, even if they don’t make it into the film.

Don’t forget about Wish Upon a Card – this show, sale and silent auction of fabric postcards is in its fourth year and we’ve already raised over $30,000 for local cancer support services.  We’re shooting for 1,000 postcards!  We’ll jury the best 50 – 75 cards and High Desert Gallery will custom frame them for silent auction.  You can find all the entry info here.  How ’bout getting your quilting group together to make some cards – they’re really fun!

Oh boy have I been getting email and voice mail messages about those registration forms.  Fear not!  They should be in the mail no later than Monday.  We have sent out about 700 entry forms – over half of them for sale entries which fill very fast.  You can find entry information here.

Sisters made the National Geographic Geo Tourism map – and the Quilt Show and Sisters Folk Festival are featured!  check it out.  That’s about it for now.  Weather update for all you sunbirds – The sun is shining and we’re heading for 50 degree weather next week.  Hoping to hit the (muddy) trails with the corgis!  Later ~ Ann

Is it February already!?!

Time is just flying by as we’re heavily into planning this year’s 35th Anniversary show.  I’ve been meeting this week with our production company, Expectations Pictures, to sketch out the script and theme for our special retrospective DVD.  Its going to include stories, old footage, pictures – really fun!  More on that next week as we’ll be asking for your stories, photos, etc. and I’ll have a special email address for sending those things.  The Quilt Show Office team – Candy, Susan, Daisy, Joey, Liz, Tammy and I had a fun lunch this week and started our planning & scheduling for manning (woman-ing?) the office this year.

Today our IT manager (also known as Clyde, my husband, the uber-volunteer) will be officially launching our blog, Facebook page, Twitter and other ways for us to stay in touch with you and you with us.  Also coming out – hopefully next week – are this year’s registration forms to enter quilts in the show.  If you haven’t requested entry forms yet, you can do that any time.   You’ll find the complete entry information here.

I’m spending alot of my time developing sponsorships.  Sponsors provide over half the money we need to put on the show.  Its been especially difficult for our businesses these past couple of years but they sure come through for us.  We’re happy to welcome Wanderlust Tours as a new sponsor this year.  They are offering three fabulous day trips during the week prior to Quilt Show.  There’s something for everyone so if your family is coming to Sisters with you or you just want to get out for a beautiful hike, check out their offerings on their website.

That’s it for today – believe it or not we’re seeing the sun for only the second time in about a month.  Off to the creek for a hike with our corgis!